November 30, 2004

Divining da Da Vinci Code

Michele's review of The Da Vinci Code makes me happy I've ignored that neverending bestseller. She writes,

As a novel, TDC is pedestrian. The plot is thin, the codes are easily seen by the reader before the characters break them, the plot twists are either telegraphed or inconceivable to the point of absurdity and the ending is contrived. It's a page turner only because Brown is a master manipulator; he drags you in with theories and near blasphemies that make you think, but he never puts these things to great use. Instead, you end up turning the page just to see how the damn thing ends. As one who grew up with a love for cryptograms, Encyclopedia Brown, logic puzzles and adventure games, I felt let down by the book; it could have offered me so much more than it did.

Worst part about the whole TDC phenomenon is that a few people think the fictional parts are fact. It doesn't help that Dan Brown creates the confusion. What this has done is create a cottage industry of TDC debunking books.

"The Da Vinci Code - A Review of Sorts"

[One "fact" that would drive some Red Staters nuts is the notion that Jesus lived out his days as a Frenchman. Just imagine hearing the Sermon on the Mount in a French accent.]